Regional studies – P. Claval

    An Introduction to Regional Geography, Blackwell, Oxford, 1998, Initiation `a la Géographie
                                   Régionale, Nathan,Paris, 1993

q       Classical school of French human and regional geography – Vidal de la Blache, 1910, regional
concept: each fragment of the earth’s space contained its own internal logic as far as the physical
                                   environment and human response

q       pays – a small-scale unit corresponding to a distinctive landscape assemblage based on the
physical environment and the human adaptation to its opportunities and constraints /cultural
landscape – rural, peasant/

q       polarizing effects of towns / Perroux, Boudeville, 1961/- economic theory in spatial
dimensions, functional concept of polarized space, modelled statistically and with predictive value,
administration and planning regions – a basis for action and decision-making

   q       journals Hérodote  and Antipode – impact of Marxist theory, L’Espace Géographique  –
   critical discussion, international in spirit and innovative in format

   q       planning, development policies, projects, local regions, teams, relevance of
   geography, regional expertise, analyst or technician? Phlipponeau (1960) – politically active
   geographers

   q       contemporary openness – pivotal role of Claval as commentator, critic and catalyst:
   philosophical and practical frameworks for knowledge organization

   q       regional studies as a certain way of interpreting the world:  physical components and
   infrastructure

   human activities for making the best possible use

   expansion of flows and control, administration, enterprise

   

   

   

   The regional approach

   

   q       a basic cartographic representation on which observations are recorded,
   points-lines-surfaces and distributions

   q       direct observation/investigation, validity of the representation, generalizations,
   personal experience

   q       indirect observation – the use of data collected by others, this involves the risk of
   error, censuses, interviews

   

   q       aerial photographs, remote sensing images, cartographic basis for GIS, imagination,
   comparison, communication flows

   q       quantitative and qualitative geography, characteristics

   q       persons and communities, ownership and location, locality, language of communication,
   geographer as alien, formal administration

   

   q       crisis situations – economy, jobs, social conflict, extreme situations and their
   spatial configuration

   natural hazards and their impacts/responses/perceptions

   

   q       what the eyes never perceive directly? Process-form

   

   q       physical regions

   q       human regions – zonal and polarized,

   agricultural, economic, industrial, tourist, specialized, metropolis (urban-based),
   centre-(semi)periphery

   

   q       the region as a life-world, pays, cultural, historic, identity